I'd planned on entering that contest, I'd put together hundreds of designs but couldn't get any clear sense whatsoever from the entry guidelines where to submit them. May be awhile before I'm inspired again, all the critical reflection after looking here kind of sucked that out of me.

The first center to be seen is that structure, or complex of structures, in which the control of the business activities of the cities is housed. Here is located the seat of government of the city's practical affairs, including its three chief branches - legislative, judiciary and executive.

At this closer view we can distinguish in greater detail the characteristics of the tower-buildings. The tower itself rises directly over the intersection of two of the master highways to a height of 1200 feet. There are eight flanking towers, half this height, which, with their connecting wings, enclose four city blocks. The center extends, however, over eight adjoining blocks, where its supplementary parts rise to a height of twelve stories.

We see, upon examining the Avenue, that more than one level for traffic is provided. Local wheel traffic is on the ground level; express traffic is depressed; pedestrians pass on a separate plane above.

Beyond the center, the lower districts of the city are visible, together with the radial avenues which lead to the other tower-buildings of the Business district.

When cartoonist Thomas Nast drew this illustration of future Manhattan for Harper's Weekly in 1881, Trinity Church was the tallest building in New York, with its spire and cross reaching 281 feet into the heavens.

San Franciscans are viciously proud of their little gingerbread village of a city. Rightfully so. But soon, the demands of population growth will force San Francisco to expand its infrastructure, and all that quaint character could suffer. Imagine the wrath of the NIMBY crowds if a new wind farm came along and blocked their precious views of the Golden Gate. IwamotoScott Architecture’s solution: Hide the ugly below ground.

IwamotoScott, a young, theory-driven San Francisco firm, designed a futuristic master plan for the city in 2108, when the population is expected to double. Hydro-Net, as they call it, could’ve tumbled straight out of the mind of Syd Mead. The architects envision a subterranean world in which the city harvests its own green energy, and residents zip around in hydrogen-fueled hover cars (hover cars!!), freeing roads above ground from high-speed traffic.

A street-level infrastructural web spread along the waterfront and at “nodal points” in various neighborhoods would connect to the below-ground networks (so people can actually get from their cars to their apartments). Somewhere in there, Hydro-Net would also be able to harvest fog as a water source, and “automated drilling robots” would build tunnel walls out of carbon nanotube technology that could store and distribute hydrogen fuel.

Well, pretty interesting ' a negative skyscraper ' or earthscraper, but according to editors and adm would not fit as a diagram in this page, could immagine the fight to bring it inside, even though system as current is today would be difficult to accept and have it, while the waterline is Up- not down like 100 % it is here. Anyway it is a huge construction, but do not believe in middle Mexico city, impossible.

Considerign the cost of supports, structural logistics, buildign to survive crashes, hurricans, etc... One would imagine building DOWN would be much cheaper then building up.

Granted right now it would be more costly as the construction world has no real experiance with building down on a large scale. But given time, a 40 story "depthscaper" would be far more cost effective then a 40 story skyscraper.

Ye Gods, that photo, the towers in that photo..
They look like some sort of cartoon, like a bad Las Vegass Theme hotel or something.
I mean, I like the attempt that they seem to be building a BigBen knock off, but it still seems tacky.

Superstudio was a conceptual design firm that created a series of collages for a project (for which they are undoubtedly most famous for) they called the 'Continuous Monument,' it was a sarcastic comment on the tedium and omnipresence of globalization.

Considerign the cost of supports, structural logistics, buildign to survive crashes, hurricans, etc... One would imagine building DOWN would be much cheaper then building up.

Granted right now it would be more costly as the construction world has no real experiance with building down on a large scale. But given time, a 40 story "depthscaper" would be far more cost effective then a 40 story skyscraper.

Nope. It's far more of an engineering challenge to build down than it is to go up. The further down you go the higher the pressure, temperature, and ventilation problems. Also you have the issue of groundwater infiltration/seepage and the fact that you need to move mountains of dirt/stone to go down.

Building down is probably the idea in this thread that is least likely to happen barring a nuclear holocaust.

Engineering scholar Norman Sper proposed damming the river at both ends of Manhattan, and filling in the space... which would "ultimately connect the Island of Manhattan with the mainland of New Jersey." The 10 square miles of land gained would have, in theory, solved the traffic and housing problems the city was having at the time. There would be more buildings, more streets, and more avenues.

- There would also be more underground action, with the building of tunnels, conduits, mail and automobile tubes, and other subterranean passages. When every possible subterranean necessity had been anticipated and built, a secondary fill would bring the level up to within twenty-five feet of the Manhattan street level. Upon this level would rest the foundations and basements of the buildings that would make up the new city above, planned for fresh air, sunshine and beauty. Thus, below the street level would be a subterranean system of streets that would serve a double purpose. All heavy trucking would be confined to it, but primarily it would serve as a great military defense against gas attack in case of war, for in it would be room for practically the entire population of the city.